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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624773">The Peeper Puppy Incident</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/themarginalartist/pseuds/themarginalartist'>themarginalartist</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Xenian AU [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood, Child Injury, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light but like its there yall, Major Injury, descriptions of injuries, it’s all about Gordon getting better though</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 16:48:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,231</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27624773</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/themarginalartist/pseuds/themarginalartist</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A deeper look at the Peeper Puppy Incident that Benrey and Gordon mention in Chapter 8 of Xenian. Benrey and Gordon learn a few things about themselves while Gordon’s healing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Xenian AU [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994701</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Xenian AU</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Peeper Puppy Incident</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I started this a while ago and finally got enough brain power to finish it lol. </p><p>Warnings for children getting injured! So um yeah! But they get better! Promise!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Getting food on Xen was both easy and hard. Easy, because Gordon’s favorite fruit trees usually had plenty and Benrey was pretty adept at hunting for himself. Hard, because the fruit trees were rather far out from the cave they had made their home and were in a slightly more dangerous area. Benrey and Gordon normally had a system where Benrey went out hunting while Gordon waited in their cave or in a what they considered safe zone, a pool that had tall reeds that were able to easily hide Gordon from any other creatures nearby, so far it hadn’t failed them. Today though, Gordon seemed to not want to follow their normal plans. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Benny… Why can’t I come?” Gordon pouts at him, sitting in the nest of reeds by the pool. A soft blue glow all around them coming from the reeds swaying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie, you know why,” Benrey sighs, “It’s not safe in that area and hard to keep an eye on you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t wanna be alone.” Gordon whines. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna be long Gordie, promise. Nothing’s gonna happen, and worse case you run to the cave okay?” Benrey ruffles Gordon’s hair, giving a smile to ease Gordon’s nerves. “And besides, food’s pretty important, don’t wanna be hungry right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess so… Be quick okay?” Gordon sighs, curling up and playing with the reeds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I will. Gonna be back before you know it.” Benrey hums giving Gordon a tight hug before running off. First was the hunt for himself since Gordon’s food was much easier to get. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Benrey’s ears twitch as he tries to listen for movement, hair annoyingly brushing against them making him eventually shake his head as he tries to find something for his meal. It takes longer to find a target than normal, making Benrey frown but give chase to the creature destined to be his meal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It gives him the run around for a while but eventually he has his kill. While he’d love to dig into it now, he’s got a mission to complete. Luckily he’s not too far away from the Bilboango fruit trees that are Gordon’s favorites. It’s a short trek, and with three arms it’s easy to hold his kill while climbing the trees to get the fruit from it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once he’s got enough he starts to head back. It’s a quiet walk, arms laiden with their food. He can just see the tops of the reeds where Gordon was tucked away by the still much further pool when a screech rips through the air. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Gordon never enjoyed being left alone, it was always better to be with Benrey. Safety in numbers and all that. Benrey always protected him from the other creatures that were around the area. But all on his own… He had claws and teeth and horns but sometimes that wasn’t enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waited though, trying to be patient and not move from his spot in the reeds that softly swayed in the breeze. Every time they moved they glowed a little brighter for a moment. It was relaxing but his ears would continue to twitch each time he thought he heard something nearby, though nothing seemed to come. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t remember falling asleep in the reeds, but waking up to the houndeye in front of him was not good. From a distance it was funny to call them peeper puppies, but this is definitely not funny, and there is certainly not enough distance between him and the houndeye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t have fallen asleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to back up slowly but it was obviously too late, the houndeye was on top of him, and with a shriek it jumped at him, pinning him down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“OFF! OFF!” Gordon writhed beneath the houndeye and scratched at its underbelly, claws digging into its flesh but the hound eye seemed intent on keeping him down. Gordon manages to scramble his legs underneath it and push it off enough to get his arms free, flailing them as he tries to escape. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A mistake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jaws snap shut on two of his arms, making Gordon screech in pain immediately tugging against the houndeye’s hold on him, panicking hard as he feels the teeth cut through his flesh. He has to get away from it, he has to pull his arm out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With another tug he begins feeling really dizzy. Something is really, really wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Blood is oozing from the houndeyes mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He feels something snap in both of the arms and there’s a moment of silence before he lets loose a blood curdling scream of pain. He attempts to scramble away from the houndeye, but everything around him seems to be doubled and his arms… Where are his arms? He’s missing two. The upper and middle right arms are cut off just below the elbow. Jagged wounds on both arms bleed green blood profusely, staining the ground as he weakly tries to move away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The houndeye rears back attempting to snap at him again, this time aiming for his tail, but it gets stopped just before it reaches him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Benny…?” Gordon whimpers weakly before passing out. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>“...Benny…?” Benrey’s heart broke hearing the whimper that Gordon let out before his eyes shut and head hit the ground. He drops their food by his side and growls at the houndeye, going on the defensive and giving off a threat display with the colors on his arms and in his eyes. The houndeye seems intent on not backing down however and makes a dash at him, snapping and growling. Benrey was not about to back down, snarling and transforming his claws into stronger ones to slice into its flesh, leaving deep gashes in its sides. </p><p>
  <span>The houndeye backs up and hisses, Benrey hisses back. Both rush each other, snarling and clawing and snapping. Benrey puncturing its skin with his sharp lower canines. The houndeye’s blood mixes with Gordon’s green blood already on the ground. It landed a deep bite on Benrey’s side, dark blue blood dripping into the green on the ground as Benrey kept clawing at the houndeye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Both bloodied and panting they back away and circle each other. Benrey preparing to rush the houndeye again, then all at once the houndeye seems to pick up on his threat display and turn tail whimpering as it runs. Benrey frowns, holding his wounded side before immediately turning his attention to Gordon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie? Gordon? Come on, Gordon…” He nervously pushes at Gordon’s shoulder, trying to wake him up. “Gordon come on, this isn’t funny. It’s not nap time.” Benrey whimpers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon, however, does not budge. His face looks peaceful, but not the peaceful of them taking a nap in their cave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s almost the same kind of peaceful as the face of his kill… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bad thought. No. Gordon’s going to be fine. He has to be fine. He’ll wake up and they can eat together. It’s going to be alright.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But is it? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would usually be awake by now if it had happened to him. While losing limbs sucks they do regrow… So why wasn’t Gordon awake? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pacing for only a moment longer, Benrey scoops Gordon onto his back, doing his best to ignore the feeling of Gordon’s blood seeping into the hair back there, and grabbing the fruit and his kill he runs back to the cave they call home. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pool in their cave might help. It’s a special pool. Made for healing if he remembers right. Putting Gordon in will probably help. He can only hope it helps… </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Gordon wakes up in pain, eyes scrunching up tight as he whimpers. Trying to move just enough to protect himself from the houndeye. It was still there wasn’t it? He cracks an eye open, not recognizing his surroundings he immediately begins to struggle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He has to get away, he has to escape, he has to get home. He can only hope Benrey will find him soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“... -stop!” Who’s talking to him? “Gordie, you gotta stop moving!” Oh it’s Benrey. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Benny?” Gordon mumbles, finally cracking open an eye only to get pulled into a tight hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah it’s me Gordie. I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Benrey looks like he’s been crying for a bit, the red tear tracks down his face a clear indication of that. Gordon gives him a weak hug back, a hand landing on a sticky not yet healed patch making Benrey wince. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry… It’s not your fault though. I fell asleep…” Gordon mumbles, shifting his hand which lets Benrey relax. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I shoulda been faster though, then you wouldn’t have had your… your arms…” Benrey mumbles into his neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arms… Oh yeah…” Immediately the pain he was feeling gets worse, “Hurts Benny…” He whimpers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I know, I don’t know why you haven’t healed up yet…” Benrey says nervously, carefully picking up Gordon and bringing him to the edge of the pool in their cave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not- not the same you know… scrapes take me a minute…” Gordon groans as he feels the water hit his arm. It’s a shock of pain before slight relief from the pool’s waters, dulling the intense pain he’s feeling somewhat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These are more than a scrape…” Benrey gives a tired chuckle as he sits near him, letting the pool’s waters soak into his wounds as well. “You’re, you’re arms are going to have to grow back…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah… But I’ll probably- probably be okay soon?” Gordon tries to be hopeful but he caught the briefest glance of his own arms and immediately felt nauseous. The sight of the green tinted flesh moving under the waters made his stomach flip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...I’m not gonna leave until you’re all healed up.” Benrey says quietly. “Promise.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Benny… What about food and stuff? If- if this isn’t fast…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll get it, if it comes to that just focus on you okay?” Benrey gives him a small smile. “I’ll take care of you like always.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon gives a weak smile and nod, trying to focus on the cool water rather than the prickly feeling of flesh growing back. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>As they found out the next morning, once a fitful night of sleep has passed, Gordon is not a quick healer. There are signs of the two arms growing back, though it’s not much progress unlike when Benrey had defended him against the golem ape and had his arm crushed, having it healed and having full range of motion after about six hours. Gordon is certainly not like Benrey in this regard, much to Benrey’s disappointment. Benrey was fully healed after the pool and some sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It- it still really hurts Benny…” Gordon mumbles, wiping away pink tears as he soaks the slowly regenerating arms in the pool again. Giving a small sigh of relief as the pain is numbed.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The pool is helping though, right?” Benrey shuffles closer, trying to take a look at Gordon’s arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A little…” Gordon leans against Benrey who lightly scratches behind Gordon’s horns in response. Benrey frowns as Gordon doesn’t even purr at the action, letting him know that the pain must be pretty bad still. “I’m sorry…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie, what the heck are you sorry for?” Benrey tilts his head confused as he looks down to meet Gordon’s green eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry I’m not healed up yet…” Gordon sniffles before burying his face against Benrey’s side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie, buddy, that’s nothing you need to be sorry about!” Benrey chastises lightly. “Me and you are different, remember? I don’t expect you to heal overnight. Besides, I’ve gotten good at healing myself cause I was looking out for me before I met you and now I look out for you too. You just don’t have practice. Nothing to be sorry about.” Benrey rubs Gordon’s shoulders as he purrs near silently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gordon doesn’t respond for a long time before he slowly starts purring back, freckles glowing a soft calm blue as they sit together, letting the water help dull Gordon’s pain. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>Day two after the incident has Gordon’s arm healed to a couple inches below his wrist. Benrey is both intrigued and disturbed to see the exposed muscles tinged in green moving as Gordon moves his arms. The blood flow has obviously slowed to the area that’s still healing but it still drips in electric green drops to the cave floor, creating small pools of blood beneath the wounds. Idly he wonders if Gordon wouldn’t heal right if his arms were left lying on the ground. Benrey’s stomach growls distracting him from his thoughts. Gordon sleepily blinks at him, having woken up from the noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry Gordie…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s okay… I’m hungry too.” He mumbles, raising one of his injured arms to rub his face, too quick for Benrey to reach out and stop him before green blood is smeared on his skin and he hisses in pain. “Ow, ow, ow.” Hot pink tears immediately prick Gordon’s eyes as he whimpers, clutching the stump of an arm that he rubbed his face with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie!” Benrey scoops him up and heads to the pool, “What were you- Ugh sorry I’m not mad at you for that you just need to be more careful.” He sighs as he sets Gordon at the edge of it and scoops up some of the water in his hand to rub the blood off of Gordon’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I don’t- Sorry! I- I forgot that-“ Gordon’s starting to get worked up, a pink tear tracking down his face before Benrey wipes it away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shhh. I’m sorry, it’s okay.” Benrey tries to calm him as his stomach growls again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Benny… We need to get food…” Gordon frowns between sniffles hearing Benrey’s stomach make noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll get some later once you’re okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But- but- ...I’m hungry too… I can help? I still have- have four of my arms okay…” Benrey immediately blanches at the thought of Gordon going out again only to lose more arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. No. You aren’t coming with me. You’re going to stay here and heal up. Okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Benny-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No Gordie, you’re still healing.” Benrey says firmly. “You need to stay here. I’ll be- I’ll be fast, I promise, nothing’s going to hurt you here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I- … Okay.” Gordon gives up, head drooping down as he stares at his reflection. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be fast. Promise.” Benrey hugs him gently before ruffling his hair and moving to head off to hunt and collect fruit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay. Benny?” Benrey pauses and looks to him in question. “Stay safe okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Heh, I will Gordie. You focus on healing up. I’ll be back before you know it.” Benrey gives Gordon a big smile before heading out of the cave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He runs quickly once he’s out of the cave to his normal hunting ground, making five kills before heading to get the fruit Gordon likes. If he stocks up a bit then he doesn’t have to leave Gordon alone again as he continues to heal. He just has to make sure he has enough for them both to eat. That way he can focus on being there for Gordon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He climbs quickly and plucks the ripe fruit, making sure everything is secure in his arms before running back to the cave, doing his best to avoid any other creature that might be lurking around Xen. When he gets back he finds Gordon in a shivering ball in the back of the cave. He sets down the food and makes a questioning noise, translated into sweet voice that floats above their heads. Gordon doesn’t seem to hear him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gordie?” He asks, gently putting a hand on Gordon’s shoulder only to make Gordon jump and hiss at him before Gordon blinks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“B-benny?” Gordon’s voice comes out as a whimper before he quickly hugs Benrey. “I- I thought- I thought I heard one of them at the mouth of- of the cave! I- I thought they- they were going to eat- eat more of my arms!” He sobs into Benrey’s chest making Benrey’s heart break at the sound of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, you’re safe, I’m here now, nothing’s going to get you.” Benrey sighs and holds onto Gordon until his sobs peeter out. Once he’s calmed down Benrey makes sure they both eat and sings out some calming blue, wishing he could do something more for Gordon’s injuries. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Staring at the teal blue of the pool in the cave he sighs, small bubbles of almost but not quite matching color escape his lips. He keeps singing, the color of the sweet voice getting closer and closer to that of the pool’s water. When the sweet voice finally matches the color of the pool, the bubbles drift down instead of up like they normally do, they circle and float toward Gordon’s injured arms making Benrey panic and try to swipe them away so they wouldn’t hit against the injuries, however one pops against his claw, splattering against Gordon’s still healing upper arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shoot, I’m sorry Gordie, I didn’t mean-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Benny? Can- can you make that color again?” Gordon blinks, rubbing at his face with a non-injured hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? But-“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It- it felt kinda like the pool does? Good not bad.” Gordon explains, green eyes blinking at him as he waits for Benrey to repeat the sweet voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay…” Benrey tries to find the right pitch and color again, taking a little bit of time before he lands on it and creates the teal blue color that matches the pool’s waters again, bubbles drifting down and landing against Gordon’s injuries without his interference this time. Gordon sighs, shoulders relaxing slightly as a light numbing sensation comes over the injuries. Both blink in surprise as a tiny bit of regrowth happens a bit quicker. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- did you heal me?” Gordon blinks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I- I think I did- I think I did a little! This is great! I can heal you up!” Benrey grins. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s gonna take a lot of sweet voice though…” Gordon frowns, “But- but we can try it.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah!” Benrey nods excitedly and sings again, much quicker to find the pitch and color that helped heal Gordon. He sings for a while, watching the tiny amount of regrowth slowly happen with Gordon until his throat feels raw. He tries to keep singing, having managed to get Gordon’s arm to heal up just under his wrist but his voice is shot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you Benny.” Gordon gives him a teary smile and hugs him tightly again, freckles glowing in the calming blue of contentment while the injuries glow teal from the thick layer of sweet voice on them. </span>
</p>
<hr/><p>Day three is filled with as much sweet voice as Benrey can muster, even though his throat is rough from overuse. Gordon tells him a few times to just let him use the pool’s water but Benrey is stubborn about letting him help. By the time they fall asleep again Gordon’s got the palms of his hands growing back and the start of his fingers, no more muscle visible or blood that drips slowly to the ground. </p><p>
  <span>When they wake up the following morning Gordon’s arms are fully regrown and they both hug happily, glad that it’s all over. Gordon’s finally healed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never want to go through that again.” Gordon laughs as he flexes his fingers and waves his arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I couldn’t agree more.” Benrey grins even though his throat hurts, ruffling Gordon’s hair. “Never gonna let you get hurt like that again. Promise.” </span>
</p>
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